It's stranger than fiction, a tale bizarre beyond belief: The Army that helped conquer Iraq in three weeks doesn't have enough cash to keep the lights on at Fort Sam Houston.
The post is in crisis mode, not dark but deep in the red.
Its garrison office, which provides services to more than 70 tenant commands, has frozen hiring, shut off cell phones and BlackBerry devices, turned in leased cars and forbidden troops from using government credit cards. If a computer breaks down, the tenant command has to pay for the part.
The post's $1.4 million-a-month CPS Energy bill is due June 30.
"I don't have the money to pay that bill right now, but I believe the Army will assist us," said Col. Wendy Martinson, Fort Sam's garrison commander.
Fort Sam is grappling with a $26 million budget shortfall partly because of congressional wrangling over a measure to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But problems at Fort Sam and many of the Army's 179 posts worldwide won't be over even if Congress approves a $94.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill next week as expected.
The war, rising military health care costs and Pentagon efforts to transform the armed services will make sure of that.
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